It was a week after the Misfits left the Academy's grounds. Their first trip led directly to the Amarins' territory, landing them directly into one of the main camps of their 4th Branch. It was located on a vast, grassy field, where hundreds of tents were erected, and the Amarins' flags, with their symbol of half-black, half-white circle, flapped proudly in the strong wind. When descending from the Pearl, Sion was already waiting for them, happy to finally rejoin the group and feel at home after a year of being apart from the Misfits. Yet the party's happiness did not last long as when Solren appeared, he decided that he was going to personally train them before they were ready to fully call themselves part of the 4th Branch.

"Ugh… I can't feel my leg…." Koa moaned, lying sprawled out on her cot, wearing the army's usual black, tightly-fitted standard uniform.

"Me neither…" Ceiline echoed her moans. It was the first time anybody heard her complain, but she also looked like someone who had no time to rest for months on end.

They just returned from another training exercise involving no magic, formations, artifacts, or using talismans, but only raw, physical exercises, combat drills, and mock battles. Anytime they tried using their mana or refreshing their bodies with smuggled-in potions, Solren was there, hitting them mercilessly, turning their fingers and buttocks into a shade redder and a size bigger how swollen they got every time.

"Help…" Keily joined in on their moaning, sounding really troubled. "I can't… move… I need… to pee…”

"Let it out… Let it aaaaaalll out... nobody would complain...." Koa grumbled, barely managing to turn her head to the left while lying on her stomach. "We don't care… Do we, Ceiline?"

"No… I think I peed a little today too… when Major Solren almost cut off my head…." She whispered, feeling the edge of his blade on her neck once more, just by remembering it. She never saw someone moving so fast with the blade and without letting even one ounce of mana be wasted. His sword was part of his body, and it moved so fast it gave the feeling of facing dozens at the same time. Even when Solren only used a wooden practice sword, it still cut open her scaled hands, which should be way sturdier than any magical beast's natural hide. He simply did not know how to hold back... or he just didn't want to.

"Hauh…" Keily cried as he tried standing up, his legs shaking violently, trying to walk towards their tent's flap. "I… am not a… baby… I'll go… out!" He groaned, gritting his teeth with every extremely shaky step. Just as he was reaching out, grabbing the flap, it burst open, throwing him to his buttocks, making him cry out in pain and shame as it broke his concentration and the dam he was trying to hold back.

"Huh?" Raufon tilted his head, looking tired but also strangely… happy. "Sorry! Wait… Are you crying?" He leaned forward, watching Keily's tear-filled eyes.

"I am not…!" He lied, unsuccessfully.

"How can you be so… energetic?" Ceiline asked, trying to sit but just falling back onto her back.

"I ate dinner, and I brought you some!" He laughed, bringing in the plates of hot supper. "Damn, this is much better than the Academy! Ahahaha! I should have come to the army way sooner!"

"Beast…" Koa and Ceiline said simultaneously, but Raufon just laughed even more loudly.

"That would be Aurora and Lia!" He smirked at them.

"They are monsters." The duo of tired girls said it in unison once again.

"Probably." Raufon agreed as, even though he was enjoying their new and harsh training, those two were reveling in it.

Aurora's case was not that surprising as they knew she had been part of the 4th for a long time. It seemed she was back in her element, going through the limit-pushing training with a frightening zeal. What few expected was that Lia was just as tenacious as her, even staying for extra sessions with her brother when nobody else had the energy to even move. Not without using magic.

"Cheer up!" Raufon grinned, raising Keily up from the ground, ignoring his sobs and cries to not touch him. "We need to get into shape! Look at Sion! He can keep up with Aurora! They are still going at it!"

"I wouldn't have the energy to go at it, not even if you throw me into the arms of cute boys…." Koa mumbled, finally pushing herself up to start eating the hot soup Raufon brought them.

"Major Solren is right!" Raufon continued, ignoring her complaints, "We got way too used to refreshing our bodies with our mana! What if we are cut off from it? We would be even weaker than a magicless warrior! I never realized this…."

"It only happened in a few instances." Ceiline said, after finishing her dinner, wiping her mouth with a bit more fire in her eyes, "By the records of the Dark Ages, to nullify mana in an area is a hard feat for the Undead too! And it weakens them a lot, just the same! They used it to trap the Ascendri…"

"And even killed a few." Raufon finished it for her with profound warning bells in his voice. "Who are you? Ceiline Nerifit. And you?" He turned towards Koa, "Koadriana Amarin. Both of you are part of the Six Noble Houses of Meriath! If anyone can fall into this trap, it is you! Plus… now that we are following you, we are also going to be affected! We can't be the deadweight now, can we, Keily?" He elbowed him, making the sulking bunny boy nod.

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It was true… they had to keep up and improve. If not, one day, one of their weaknesses could be a fatal mistake. A chain is just as strong as its weakest link.

…

….

……

On the training field, Solren was facing his younger sister. Both of them were holding extremely heavy wooden swords, facing each other silently, unmoving. Lia was wearing a tightly fitted body suit while her brother was only in his military trousers, letting his sweat trickle down on his naked, athletic torso. His blue eyes were fixated on his sister's mismatched irises, ready to react to every little twitch of her muscles, reading her moves before she even made them, thus resulting in their current stalemate.

Lia was trying to regulate her rapid breathing and ignore the feeling of being soaked in her sweat and her hair sticking to her face. All of her muscles were screaming at her to stop, burning as if dosed in sizzling oil, but she ignored them completely. She barely decided how to break their face-off, just thinking about moving the complaining muscles in her right hand when her brother reacted, already copying her, ready to counter the move she had just decided on.

"Tsk…" She clicked her tongue, forgoing to do what she just thought about, returning to a statue-like stillness. No matter what she came up with, her brother read her like an open book, driving Lia crazy. "Ah! Fuck it!" She shouted and threw her wooden sword forward, aiming at Solren's chest.

"Language!" Solren scolded her while easily parrying the training weapon. "And I said, no magic!" He added, slapping out with his left hand, surrounded in a golden light, swatting away a crimson fireball as if it was nothing. "No cheating!" He grumbled, facing Lia, who teleported behind him. He mercilessly caught Lia in mid-air by simply raising one knee, blowing the wind out of her chest when it made the impact.

"UGH!" She threw up a mouthful of blood while her fireball exploded behind Solren, finally catching the ground after being slapped away.

"You have an excellent foundation!" Solren sighed, shaking his head, watching his sister rolling on the ground, trying not to cry and catch her breath, holding her chest where she could feel multiple ribs were broken. "I applaud Headmaster Lucian… especially for having the patience to deal with you."

"..." Lia wanted to say something, but only inaudible whines escaped her windpipes before stopping struggling and just lying there, defeated.

"You want to do everything on the first try… Stop that." He whispered gently, crouching down and touching Lia's chest as golden energy flew forth, healing her broken bones. "Learning the sword takes years. Your instincts are good, and you catch onto my moves quickly, but you won't be a master only after a week!"

"You are too… quick… Brother Solren…!" Lia moaned after finally feeling able to breathe correctly, letting him pull her into a sitting position.

"I have been using the sword since I was three. Of course, I am!" He chuckled proudly. “I am the best swordman in all of Meriath.”

"Are you now?" Lia tried to tease him, but he simply nodded.

"Yes. That is a fact. You won't reach my level. Not even if you do nothing but use the sword for ten years."

"Ugh… Soren! That is not really a nice thing to say, you know! You are killing your sister's motivation right now! Hmph! You bully!" She pouted, crossing her arms sulkingly.

"Your goal is not to reach my level. It is simply to get to an adequate one!"

"Which is?"

"You can duel me for around a minute."

"Hah… You are worse than Brother Lala!"

"I am not." Solren countered surprisingly quickly, making Lia grin, finally finding something the third son of Reyra found… annoying.

"Yes, you are! Hmph, hmph!" She jumped up in the end, and if Koadriana had been here, she would start moaning, wanting Lia to explain where she gets these unexplainable energy boosts. "Anyway! Why shouldn't I use mana? We all use it all the time! You too! In every battle, you use it to enhance yourself!"

"If your body is strong, you can enhance an even better instrument." Solren explained patiently, "Mana, magic, spells, formations, artifacts. All of them are tools, nothing more, nothing less. If you don't know how to use them, you will fail to bring the maximum out of all of them! The same is true for your body! I am going to train you in the following year. I aim to make your group at least master your bodies on a beginner level!"

"Geh… only beginner?"

"Yes. Anything more advanced would be impossible for most of you. Especially for Koa. She is way too lazy."

"Don't tell her that…"

"I already did." He replied instantly, tilting his head to the right. "From your group, you and Raufon are the only ones who could go above what I deem 'beginner.' The rest are… no good."

"Huh? Really? What about Sion? Aurora?"

"They are already at that level. That is why I let them train against each other. I raised the boy while you were still in school. He is good! He was raised well, and pushing him into a moldable state was not hard! But to reach an Advanced Level? It may take 10 or 15 years for him. We don't have that much time to waste away!"

"Oh… O-okay… Hey, what about Simbad? Where is he, anyway? I thought he would meet us here!"

"He is at a forward sentry point. We will go and meet with him soon. I think two more days will be enough to get you all into a warm-up state!"

"Warm… up?" Lia asked, afraid of his answer, twitching her mouth uncontrollably.

"Yes. Best I can do with the limited time I am allowed to deal with you guys."

"Hah… Sometimes, I question if you are really my brother!"

"Hmm…?" He raised one of his eyebrows, surprised by his sister's exclamation.

"Neither Dad nor Mom is like you at all!"

"Mom said I am like our grandfather." He nodded, agreeing with Lia after thinking about it a little.

"Oh? She… never told me about our grandparents…"

"She does not like talking about it!" Solren whispered with an understanding sigh, "I, too, only know a little. Mom hates talking about losing those who are close to her. I think only Big Brother knows most of the things about her dead comrades and her parents."

"Really? Hm… maybe I should ask him!"

"You will have time for that too. After finishing our quick recruitment trip in our territory, we are going to head into a Sub-Realm with him."

"Ooooh! Did you find something?" Lia asked immediately, her eyes twinkling like stars.

"Don't know yet! He said they were on a trail leading toward a hidden one! We will know more if they find it! But if Big Brother says there are clues of one, he is 99% right."

"I just hope, this time, there won't be a dead dragon waiting for us!" Lia said while walking to her wooden sword, picking it up, and turning towards her brother, signaling she was ready for another round.

"I think Big Brother would be thrilled to go against one." Solren smiled softly, raising his own, "And I won't lie-"

"You never lied in your life!" Lia giggled, interrupting him. "I know you want to fight one too. But I wouldn't." She added somberly before shooting out, initiating another bout to prevent her mind from wandering to what happened with Rose.